2010 in review

Wow, remembering what I was doing at this time last year is tough. It’s been a busy busy year and it looks like the next one is going to be even more so.

Last year in January, we were still living in Quebec city. I was somewhat involved in the Art Order community, having just finished my Hurakan piece. I used to hang out with the folks at the Quebec City Drink and Draw, and coming up with activities for the Drawing club at work. I knew I wanted to do more illustration work, but I didn’t really know what to do about it. I was registered for the IMC but I didn’t know what to expect of it.

In March, my partner got a job offer in Montreal that he couldn’t refuse, so he moved there while I was looking for a new job. I tried transferring from Ubisoft’s Quebec studio to their Montreal studio, but they just didn’t need any artists. I sent a whole lot of resumes and ended up accepting a position with EA Mobile on their prototype/new devices team. I started in May, only our apartment wasn’t available until July. A lot of logistics ensued. In the middle of this mess, I went to the IMC, and despite almost missing out on the fact that I had an assignment to prepare and getting there with just thumbnails, I came out of there with a whole new focus and a lot of motivation.

I worked worked worked on my portfolio and went to Illuxcon 3 in November. It was great and I got the chance to meet up again with a lot of my IMC mates. I also got the chance to show my portfolio to a lot of people. Including Jeremy Cranford, Steve Prescott, Jean Scrocco and Jeremy Jarvis who all gave me great critiques. I was particularly lucky that Jeremy Jarvis was there because he had critiqued my work at the IMC and I had worked hard on the aspects that he told me about. Now he gave me new things to work on, so that’s encouraging!

I came back motivated again and kept working on my portfolio. Just like with my Hurakan piece for ArtOrder, I finished a new ambitious piece: Donjon Delve, just before the Holidays. I took a well deserved rest during the Holidays, and now I’m ready to get back in the action!

I also already registered for the 2011 IMC (only 12 places left!) and for Illuxcon 4 (and I got a showcase table, they were sold out in 30 hours!) So I’m looking forward to seeing some of you guys there.